Roughly a year ago, I took some time to look at my reading habits and make some plans for reading in 2010. I thought that was pretty helpful, so I'm going to do it again.
Last year, I was a bit worried about the types of comics I was reading, but that doesn't bother me nearly as much anymore. I've come to realize that I am quite happy as a reading omnivore, and that showed itself when I made my favorites lists. I had books from radically different genres, publishers, and creators. Heck even with genres, my reading was varied, ranging from kids books to stories with very adult content.
As I look forward to 2011, I think the bigger issue for me is not so much one of the type of comics I am reading as which ones I select to read. That's going to be the driving force behind my reading goals for 2011. As with last year, we'll go with five, but I want them to be more quantifiable if possible, so we'll add some numbers this time and see if that helps. Let's have a look, shall we?
1) Finish up or catch up on some series I started but didn't complete the past few years. One of the downsides of trying to read so many different comics is that I often don't get to the end of anything. This year, I want to concentrate on finishing or getting caught up on my reading of series comics. This includes everything from 20th Century Boys to Conan to Frank Miller's Sin City. I have a lot on the table, and even though I put a dent in it last year, I want to keep going. I'd like to try and finish 25 series this year.
2) Read even more new books in 2011. A late push helped me do this in 2010, and as Erica rightly told me, by its very nature this is a goal that's going to be weighted to the end of the year. Still, with the strategic use of the library, bookstore coupons, and publisher sales, I should be able to get a better start this year. It was nice to be able to actually make a list of 10 2010 favorites, and I want to be able to do the same thing in 2011, maybe even broken down into genre. I'm thinking a goal of maybe 75 2011 titles is in order, or a little less than 25 more than last year.
3) Read more zines. I did an okay job of this in 2010, but I can do better. This is sort of the replacement for last year's "read more mini-comics", though I totally need to do more of that, too. Let's try for 25 here as well. (I'm sensing a pattern.)
4) Continue to refine what I read. Last year, especially as the year went on, I started doing a better job of looking at what I was reading and gauging my other planned reads. This helps on two fronts: It makes it so I'm reading less books I don't like and it also reduces the books in the house. If I know I'm not keen on 70s Marvel horror, for instance, I can save myself reading time and also save myself valuable shelf space. Every so often, I need to look at what I haven't read, either from the library or my own collection, and think really hard if I am *ever* going to read it. Books that sit unread do nothing but make it harder for me to pick out what I *do* want to be reading.
5) Re-Read more. I have a lot of comics that I liked that I haven't read for several years. It's time to enjoy the pleasure of things like Bone or Castle Waiting another time. After all, that's why I own them, right? I'd like to re-read maybe 25 titles this year. Let's see how that goes.
So there's my reading goals for 2011. Do you have any reading goals you'd like to share?
